Deeplinks Blog posts about CALEA

After a petition from the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies, the FCC ruled last year that companies like Vonage and private institutions that provide Net access must redesign their networks to facilitate wiretaps. By forcing broadband Internet and interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to abide by the controversial Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), the FCC ignored the statute's plain language and threatened privacy, security, and innovation.

Today, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a suit brought by EFF and a coalition of public interest, industry, and academic groups challenging the FCC's unjustified expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The suit argues that the FCC ignored the plain language of CALEA by forcing broadband and VoIP providers to become wiretap-friendly.

According to News.com, the court is also skeptical of the FCC's power over Internet services:

On May 5, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in a suit brought by EFF and a coalition of public interest, industry, and academic groups challenging the FCC's unjustified expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). By forcing broadband Internet and interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to become wiretap-friendly, the FCC ignored CALEA's plain language and threatened privacy, security, and innovation.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the chief sponsor of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act CALEA), had a few strong words for the FCC ruling that would expand the CALEA to broadband ISPs and VoIP providers. In a statement Leahy writes "The expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to the Internet is troubling, and it is not what Congress intended." He goes on to warn that "...stretching this law without changing it, and without properly examining the implications of doing that, invites a basketful of potential new problems." Leahy further explains:

The FCC's new tech mandate requiring Internet backdoors exceeds the FCC's authority, is arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by the evidence, and is contrary to law, and EFF and six other groups have teamed up to stop it.

The coalition has petitioned an appeals court to review the FCC ruling that would expand the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to broadband ISPs and VoIP providers, forcing them to build insecure backdoors into their networks. Law enforcement says it needs the backdoors because, they argue, it's just too hard for them to intercept all the communications that they need. But that kind of easy access will also endanger the privacy of innocent people, stifle innovation, and risk the Internet as a forum for free and open expression.